


Bloodgood

by Finaiarel



Series: Puzzle-June 2019 [2]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Grief/Mourning, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-03
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2020-04-07 00:43:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19074022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Finaiarel/pseuds/Finaiarel
Summary: There are a lot of things about the modern world that Atem must get used to.Mourning is not one he wanted to get to know so soon.





	Bloodgood

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt-fill for PuzzleJune day two: "Resurrection."

It was storming outside, and he supposed that was fitting. It was a somber occasion, and the gray skies and the rain suited the mood better than the blue skies they had been having lately. He sat on the back porch that led out onto their garden, swinging his legs off the side. The old wooden floor creaked under a familiar step, and Atem soon joined Yugi. 

“Hey, Yugi,” Atem murmured, gently elbowing Yugi in the side and giving him a half-hearted smile.

“Hey.” Yugi tried to return the smile, but his heart was not in it. 

“Penny for your thoughts?” Atem asked. It was a saying he had picked up from Yugi’s grandfather, once upon a time.

“Mm,” Yugi hummed, looking out over the rain-soaked garden. It was late summer, and normally it would be warm outside at this time of year. The rain had cooled it down just enough to where it was nice outside with a sweater on. Rain dripped from the greenery, running in rivulets over the leaves and dripping down onto the wet, dark earth below. “Just thinkin’ about him. I… don’t know what I’m going to do without him. He raised me...”

Atem was quiet for a long moment, soaking in the rain and the gentle breeze blowing through the trees from the east. “I know, love. I know… He was a good man.” He paused, and reached to take Yugi’s hand in his and squeeze it gently. “The pain is not going anywhere any time soon, but I’m here with you. Do you need anything right now?”

“Just you,” Yugi murmured, his voice breaking and going soft. “Stay with me?”

Atem smiled, his heart aching inside his chest, and scooted closer, wrapping his arm around Yugi’s waist. “Always, Aibou. Always.”

Yugi sighed, and curled into Atem’s chest. He closed his eyes and buried his face in his neck, breathing in that familiar scent.. They sat there like that for a long while, taking in the rain-soaked earth and the morning air. It was quiet and peaceful, but they could feel on the very air that the world had changed and would never be the same.

Japanese customs dictated that the deceased be cremated and buried in the family plot. It was a simple practice in theory, but was so different from what Atem had been used to that it startled him at first, seeing it firsthand. It left so little of the deceased behind for the mourners, and it happened so quickly that at first Atem felt stunned and uneasy about the whole ritual. 

He was rather glad when the whole thing was over, if only so that he and his partner could finally be free of tradition and mourn in their own way.

____________________

It was several weeks before they found a sapling they liked well enough. The leaves on the little maple swayed gently with every step as they made their way out to the back garden. They planted it out by the reflecting pool Sugoroku had bought Yugi’s grandmother once, a long time ago. It looked right at home there, swaying gently in the late spring breeze and casting shadows across the koi swimming below.

It grew swiftly after that. They would look out the window to the garden one day and it would seem to have grown six inches overnight, the red leaves casting a purple shade across the ground beneath. Soon enough, it became a nice place to sit and read and enjoy the shade on warm summer days. It grew tall and strong, its leaves occasionally falling in the fountain to cast gentle ripples on the peaceful surface of the still water. 

There was a stone at the base of the tree that they always kept clean. It had a simple inscription on it, nothing too fancy, but it was important enough that their children knew never to bother it. 

And whenever they looked out the window at that little bloodgood maple, it felt almost as if he were still with them.


End file.
